And She's Off!! Traveling the Rails Once More . . .

Left the Vincent Hill Grade/Acton Station on the Los Angeles County Metrolink this morning at 7:12 AM and ended up about an hour and a half later at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. It is a scenic and historic landmark, built in 1939, and the scene of so many traveling service personnel during America's involvement in WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, and those who have been deployed during their "peace time" overseas assignments. It is now a very busy rail depot, right across the street from the site of the original settlement that was called El Pueblo de Los Angeles and is now simply known as Olvera Street. The oldest remaining home is located there.

>Anyway, I am now on the Amtrak Coast Starlight traveling along the California coast until San Luis Obispo and then turning inward to the central valleys, past Salinas, San Francisco, and Sacramento, and moving steadily toward Portland, Oregon through the northern most areas of California. It is a beautiful route and one of the earliest here in the far West. I will be overnight on this train until 3:00 PM on Thursday, and an hour later will board the Amtrak Empire Builder.

I think train travel is the civilized way to go -- I will only board a plane if there is an emergency in my family!! If I wanted to be a sardine I would grow gills. The last experience a year ago on a plane scarred me for life -- and hubby and I have been train buffs all our lives anyway. So happy trails to all of you as you contemplate your summer travel plans, and let us all say a prayer for safety, rest, restoration, and coming home renewed and refreshed.


Until next time . . .

It's June 29th, and a Red Letter Launch Day!

Today is a very important day for two authors: Beth Williamson writing her inaugural novel Ruthless Heart as Emma Lang, and Lorelei James and her new novel Raising Kane.

Both these women are well-known writers of note, each having a long and varied list of fine novels and short stories that have pleased, entertained, and thrilled readers for a long time.

Beth Williamson is best known for her historical novels set in the "Old West" of the 19th century and now she is branching out into a new phase of her career under the pen name Emma Lang. You can read more about this new endeavor at http://www.bethwilliamson.com/ where you will find a large body of information about Beth's current releases and more about this new novel being released today. Beth also has the last book in her Devils on Horseback series available in ebook format now. If you have been following this series you have been waiting for "Lee's story."

Lorelei James has been well-known for her cowboy novels and especially her recent series set in Wyoming and featuring the McKay family--the brothers, the cousins, and all their wild ways, their loving and their goings-on. Ms James seems to have tapped into the very heart of this family that has been a part of the Wyoming scene for decades and whose love for the land and their ranches has sustained them through many a human crisis. You can read more about this fascinating woman as well as this latest release in the McKay family saga entitled Raising Kane at http://www.loreleijames.com/.

Both these books are available at a number of ebook sellers and I encourage you to seriously consider becoming the owner of one or both. If you have not read anything by these authors you are in for a treat!!

Well, It's Monday Again . . .

Time is winding down and only two days until I board that Amtrak train for Portland, OR. But the books are not very far away. I have an eBookwise reader that is fully loaded, about six bags of print books that need to be read of which I will stuff some in the suitcases, but even as I get my and the hubby's clothes in the washer, I take a break to read a few paragraphs or write a short review -- so and so forth.

I just finished reading A Passion to Die For which I downloaded from Harlequin as one of their free reads. I really did enjoy it -- and I think it is well worth paying something for. Marilyn Pappano has written scads of books in a variety of genres and I really enjoyed this one because it was a romance -- a relationship of long standing that still wasn't going as well as it should; a past that insisted on showing up and disrupting people's lives; a hidden killer who was very manipulative, very skilled, and probably a serial killer; and a drop-dead gorgeous cop that wanted his girl forever and she just couldn't make that commitment. Love and suspense: what a combination. Beings as how I am almost always awake for about two hours in the middle of the night, I read this novel and found it quite engaging. I think the plot is probably not all that unusual, but the characters were interesting, the back story was certainly important to the outcome of the mystery, and the friends that formed the circle around the hero and heroine were interesting and were the kind of people I would have loved to have had around me at some point in my life.

So this experience has once again convinced me that not all "free" reads are just fluff--that there are some quality novels, short stories, and novellas to be enjoyed. It also re-affirms my long held conviction that even though Harlequin has been around for a long time, they still have people on their staff that recognize good writing and are not afraid to authorize its publication.

I really recommend this book -- not complicated or deep, but a very nice read and one that will entertain as it should.

Have a great week, whatever you do and wherever you may be. Until Next Time . . .

Review: Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts

"Romance, in Emmaline's opinion, made being a woman special. Romance made every woman beautiful, and every man a prince. A woman with romance in her life lived as grandly as a queen, because her heart was treasured.

Flowers, candlelight, long walks in the moonlight in a secluded garden . . . just the idea brought on a sigh. Dancing in the moonlight in a secluded garden--not that reached the height of romantic on her scale."

Thus, the guiding philosophy of Emmaline Grant. Her story is told in the second book in Nora Robert's series, Bride Quartet, the main characters being the partners in a wedding service called Vows, Emma was the flower queen, so to speak. She understood them, loved them. could picture arrangements of them in her mind that fit the personality of the bride and set the tone for the entire wedding. She and her three best friends had entered into this business venture a number of years ago and in spite of everything that could challenge them personally and from a business perspective, the joint venture had flourished. Now Emma, a beautiful and empathetic woman in her own right, recognizes that she may be professionally satisfied, but her personal life is a wash. Perhaps the fact that one of their circle has found her mate and will be married in a few short months. Men flock to Emma's side but she is very particular and she has spent more time hooking up her would-be dates with some of her friends than she has going out with them.

Along with the four friends, three men are a living, breathing part of Vows as friends and "big-brothers." Parker Brown's brother, Del, is the attorney for the business. Parker & Del's family mansion is the site for all the weddings they put together, and Parker is the lady that seems to keep them all focused and on schedule. Jack Cooke is Del's best friend from college and has become extended family to all the girls. And Carter is Mac's fiance--a gentle giant with a Ph.D. in English and who has finally broken through Mac's resistance to a romantic relationship.

Coming home from a party she really didn't want to attend, Emma's four year old car breaks down--the battery connections are corroded. This is not really a mystery since Emma has not taken the car in for maintenance once since buying it. It is Jack Cooke that comes upon her by the side of the road, gives her a jump, and follows her home. It is also Jack whose handsome face suddenly makes an impression on Emma as they are "under the hood" trying to figure out what was wrong.

Needless to say, Jack and Emma's affair lights up the Connecticut skies. Jack is actually a romantic at heart, and there are so many ways that he "gets" Emma--her philosophy, her joy, her goals for herself and her professional life, her desire to have a future with someone who really loves her. But Jack has been a "love em and leave em" kind of guy, and Emma knows this. So she is willing to "stay in the moment" for now.

I have to say that Nora Roberts has been writing romance novels for decades and she really knows what she is doing. She can hook the reader just about as well as any writer I know, and she sure does it here!! My emotions were so in this novel. When the dating road became rough and rocky for these two, I was very upset. I just couldn't figure out what was wrong and why things couldn't be "rosey" for them. (I had to read the rest of the book!) This is a very romantic story, and I love the joshing and fun that this group of people indulge in throughout. This book is also very strong because the foundation of all these relationships is the bond between these four women. No one dares hurt one of them; the other three become enraged "mother bears." Somehow the friendships forged in difficult times in their girlhood have survived and only become stronger. That bond is what makes this book and all the books in this series work.

For some, I have no doubt that Emma's sunshine personality and view of life will be irritatingly sweet and hard to take. I found it refreshing. The world could use more Emmas. And I hope that all romance fans will take the time to read this series. It is well-worth the effort! I give this book a rating of 4.75 out of 5.

Wednesday at the Ole Book Bag

Actually, Wednesday is just about gone. Tried all day to get to the computer but hubby and granddaughters sort of planned my day up until now.

I have been awash with Ellora's Cave novellas, Quickies, etc for The Book Binge as well as trying to decide what print books to drag along on my upcoming journey. Today was a red-letter day for my reviews: All three of The Book Binge reviews were mine, and I was really surprised and pleased, especially as one was historical reading, one was inspirational, and one was erotic romance. All three were really good books. I have a couple of shopping bags of books to read for TBB as well as a bunch of bags and books that I have commandeered from my daughter's reading shelves. Add to those the books I brought home from my blogger get-together last week, and I am awash with books. It is a wonderful and blessed feeling. I sometimes don't know where to start, so I try to read those that need reviewing first and insert one or two for myself and for this blog. The truth is this: as long as I am surrounded with books I am basically a happy camper!

Some of the authors I hope to read in the coming days are Sarah McCarty, Vivian Arend, Jean Johnson, Shelley Laurenston, Beth Williamson, Emma Lang and more. I'll also be packing, getting stuff ready for some projects I have at work that need to go forward in my absence, and so on. So there's lots of stuff to get to. Next week at this time I will be on the train. Hopefully I can get an internet connection to keep you all up-to-date, not only on the travels but on some of the progress I am making through the myriads of books on my ereader as well as some of the print books I will have with me.

Until next time . . .

Well, I am off to the Opthalmologist . . .

No eye problems, although the hubby goes in frequently as he had corneal transplants four years ago. No, my glad and happy experience will be to get a numb face and frequent needle pricks for botox -- don't get excited, folks, it's not for the wrinkle stuff. Actually I have what is referred to as a hemispheric blephospasm -- one half of my face twitches. So the botox paralyzes the muscles so I don't look weird when I am up in front of people. Don't look forward to it, but the good news is that I only go in about every six months. Not much else going on except trying to get a bunch of little short stories and novellas read so I can get reviews posted on The Book Binge and then pack my laptop for the upcoming trip.

Hope you all are having a good week so far . . . Until tomorrow . . .

Rainy Days & Mondays Always Get Me Down . . .

It worked for Karen Carpenter so maybe it is just the right thing to start the week. It is going to be a bear, to say the least. Lots of things to do for my job before I leave on the Amtrak Coast Starlight on June 30, but never fear, even though I will be on the train for three days as I wind my way toward Minneapolis and a professional 8-day conference. So as I look to the next 10 days it can be exhilirating but it is also daunting. I get to the place where I just stand in the middle of the living room or my office and declare: "I don't want to do this! I don't want to go--it's just too much trouble." Of course, once I am on my way it is great. Getting ready to go anywhere has always seemed more trouble than it's worth.

I always felt that way when my kids were little and about the only vacations we could afford were camping vacations. Ugh!! I didn't enjoy those at all! I had to do the same stuff that I had to do at home but with fewer conveniences, outdoor toilets, cold water only, etc. Not a vacation for me, that's for sure. It was just about the death of me on a couple of occasions. So traveling coach class on the Amtrak and boarding at a motel with a good bed, a TV and a shower just doesn't seem too bad to me these days. I'll hook up with hubby, daughter and granddaughters as the Empire Builder rolls through Minneapolis at the end of my conference and we will be in Chicago for three days. We LOVE Chicago, and it will be a trip down memory lane as we visit old haunts and give our granddaughters the town tour. Hubby and I met and married in Chicago so there are lots of special places for us.

Hope your week is getting a nice start, and let's all breathe a prayer that at the end we will have accomplished some goodly portion of what needed to be done. Blessings . . .